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My fiancé literally cannot do her work without her laptop. Any "warranty" or "repair program" won't make up for that if she has to send her computer in to be fixed multiple times because of a shitty keyboard. A repair program does not take into account lost wages or lost time due to a design flaw.

I might be mistaken but I think a lot of Apple stores are trying very hard to do same day or next day turnarounds on those top cases - but your point still stands absolutely. Even 24-48 hours without a machine for some people is unacceptable.

we don't know a new keyboard is coming. today's release actively undermines that rumor.

also your fiancée is not the only person who depends on her computer for her job, I'm a freelance UI designer and I've used this cursed machine to do that very job for the last 4 years without skipping a beat and so do plenty of other people. if she is that fucked without a computer, she'd need a spare any way, there's plenty of reasons that computers break, and a keyboard is only one of them.

Would be nice if you could buy a computer without having to worry about the keyboard every time you use it though, huh?

I mean yeah if you're a peace of mind kinda guy this machine might not be for you lol

I'm just saying, if you want a "good keyboard" I think you can get these machines but there sure as hell isn't a new keyboard coming any time soon, as drew said, maybe 2020 if you're lucky, and even then on a $3000+ machine first, if at all.

also your fiancée is not the only person who depends on her computer for her job, I'm a freelance UI designer and I've used this cursed machine to do that very job for the last 4 years without skipping a beat and so do plenty of other people. if she is that fucked without a computer, she'd need a spare any way, there's plenty of reasons that computers break, and a keyboard is only one of them.

This is just silly.

One is a unforeseen issue with a machine that could always come up, the other is knowing going in that it's highly likely it's going to break and I'm spending money on something new knowing that.

even Gruber said it's weird that this rumor is coming from him because it's not something that'd be coming from the supply chain side, and I think the Air coming out now, without that new keyboard, at the very least pushes a keyboard refresh back into future territory.

even Gruber said it's weird that this rumor is coming from him because it's not something that'd be coming from the supply chain side,

No, he said it wasn't probably leaked to him from inside Apple, and came from the supply chain.

A friend wrote to me: “That this leaked after Ive’s departure is no coincidence.” A few DF readers have emailed with the same thought.

That’s not a crazy idea, but you have to consider the source. Given that today’s report came from Ming-Chi Kuo, I’d say no way.

Whether sanctioned (by Apple PR as strategy) or unsanctioned (by, say, a rogue member of the MacBook team who blames Ive for the butterfly keyboard fiasco), I think it’s very unlikely to have been leaked to Kuo. Kuo obviously has some good sources, but it’s been very clear to me for years that they’re all in the Asian supply chain, none in Cupertino.

I've been trying to use the TouchBar for 4 years. I've been actively trying to put the effort in to re-learn stuff so I can incorporate it into my workflow but it just SUCKS ASS.

The only thing I use it for is to ... send mail. Even the emoji keyboard part is dog shit.

I guess the Escape key is guaranteed to always work and never stick eheheheheh

I have a 2017 touchbar currently (which I'm selling to my sister and then I'm buying a new iMac instead) and I never use the goddamn Touch Bar - I don't know who it is for. The only reason I got the Touch Bar version was for the extra USB-C ports and specs.

They literally did it. It happened. They admitted it; I feel like I'm being gaslit. This keyboard was a massive mistake called by even the most die hard Apple fans the worst thing they've maybe ever done. When Gruber is saying:

Devastating column from Joanna Stern on the continuing saga of the unreliable keyboards in Apple’s MacBook lineup.

I consider these keyboards the worst products in Apple history. MacBooks should have the best keyboards in the industry; instead they’re the worst. They’re doing lasting harm to the reputation of the MacBook brand.

I just have a hard time believing deep down that Apple would ship 4 generations of broken keyboards. it's simply beyond stupid to do so.

PR wise it's a total clusterfuck, but in reality I'm just not seeing it.

probably because - as I'm sure you know - it takes time to develop new keyboards. This new design failed. They are "shipping" four generations of keyboards because they want the laptop lineup to still be current with intel specs and what not.

okay but correct me if I'm wrong, the 1st gen of the MacBook that came out, I mean people didn't love the keyboard, sure, but the first generation that actually started failing was the 1st TouchBar MacBook Pro, no?

(Coincidentally the one I am typing this on right now)

And like, I get it Drew, but we're talking 4 years. I mean if the failure rates they were seeing were that bad, would they really be making the same goddamn machine for 4 years? That just seems insane to me.

I just did some googling and I'm seeing people report failures rates of 30% on that keyboard. Like are you kidding me? Like that's no longer "oh let's keep doing incremental fixes to it", that's a fucking recall.

At that point the people that fucked it should be working overtime to invent a new keyboard.